“The character is different and I need to understand the limits”

2022 Sepang MotoGP Test Day One

Alex Rins – P3

“I’ve been waiting for this test for a long time, so I think this could be why I was fast early on – I was so keen to be back on track! Overall, I’m happy because my pace was strong, and I was able to test many different things. It’s always interesting and important to find what the strongest parts are, and what still needs improvement. I can already feel that the engine is more powerful, and the data reflects that, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Enea Bastianini – P4

“After two tests, one at Jerez and another at Sepang, I have a clearer idea about my bike. After only one day in Malaysia, I’m more aware of the Desmosedici’s potential. It’s more stable and you can hit the brakes a lot later. With the new rear tyre on, I can open the throttle much more aggressively compared to the 2019 bike. With the new engine, Sepang becomes a fantastic circuit, one where I can push really hard.”

Johann Zarco – P5

“I had a good feeling from the beginning and I was able to be fast all day. In the afternoon we improved, I became more aware of the bike and I finished in the top five. Tomorrow will be another important day to try new solutions.”

Fabio Quartararo – P6

“Tomorrow I want to work a bit more on the bike. So far, I’m happy with the pace, but not with the time attack. Just before the time attack, I was doing laps on a medium tyre that had 26 laps on it. To make the step from that tyre to a new soft, I didn’t take the full benefit of the soft. But tomorrow we will have another chance to do a time attack, and in general I need to improve my riding, because after three months I was not carrying enough corner speed and that’s our bike‘s strong point.”

Joan Mir – P7

“It’s the first day back at school! The feelings are positive so far, even though the heat here is unbelievable. We tried many items, especially the chassis parts, and it’s a bit early to take solid conclusions but my feelings were good today. I’m pleased with how everything is going so far and tomorrow we’ll continue to learn how to get the maximum out of the bike. We need to work a bit more on the electronics, because we didn’t have enough time to get everything ‘on point’ yet. My lap time was OK today, pretty solid, but I know I can do more.”

Marc Marquez – P8

“To return to the track after the period we have lived through was very rewarding, but it was a long and hard day. I feel good with the bike and most of all, it was a normal day after a long time. Good, fast, some small mistakes – today had everything! The new bike is better but we still have a lot to understand because this is a very big change to the bike. Now the character is different and I need to understand the limits, this is what the pre-season is for. Tomorrow will be important to do a longer run to keep learning and understanding.”

Pol Espargaro – P9

“It feels great to be back riding and especially on this bike. It’s amazing to see the effort of Honda, not just bringing two new bikes for the factory riders but four bikes for all the Honda riders. Honda has made a huge effort to do this and it’s going to help us a lot. But we have a lot of work to do, with just five days of testing we have to use all the time we can. We’ve had a good first day on a new bike but the best is yet to come and hopefully we can continue to improve and show the potential tomorrow. I spent the day working on mediums, not chasing a fast time as today we were trying many things. Tomorrow we’ll look for a lap time.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P10

“I am very happy, we have continued the work started during the shakedown and I certainly cannot complain about today. At the end, with the new soft tire, I also set a very good lap time. We are doing a good job with the whole Team and I feel better every day on the bike, it is more and more mine. Compared to Moto2, there is more power to manage, a different style and even the tires are completely different. However, a day to remember: riding on track with the riders that until now I had only seen on TV was exciting.”

Raul Fernandez – P13

“Today has been a positive day again with a lot of hardwork. I think that we took a step further in the right direction and this is the most important to me. Without repeating myself too much, I am very happy and I want to continue to learn, continue my progression, and enjoy myself on the bike.”

Jorge Martín – P17

“I am satisfied with this first day of testing, the first day after the winter break is not always easy but we are working hard. I had a very good start this morning and then struggled a little bit more in the afternoon because of the high temperatures. I am sure we will improve tomorrow.”

Luca Marini – P18

“A difficult day today, a more uphill start than we could expected. It was not easy, mentally above all, to sit for such a long time in the garage to understand exactly what was happening on the bikes. These are things that can happen with a new bike on the first day of testing of the new season. We will continue to work to be ready and make the most of tomorrow sessions. I have only been able ride in the last two hours, I don’t know what kind of sensations I have on the new Ducati, it is too early and we need to consider that for me it is the first time in Sepang with the MotoGP. My 2022 will start tomorrow.”

Fabio Di Giannantonio – P20

“The good news is that we’re back in shape. We needed it, because these past days have been tough. I’m quite happy with how today went: we lapped a lot and Sepang has always been a circuit that I like. It’s really crazy to lap here with the MotoGP: we had a good impression and we made quite a good step forward compared to few days ago. We’re working on the direction to follow together with Manuel (Poggiali) and my super team, as well as on some set-up changes to make.”

Franco Morbidelli – P21

“It‘s great to be back on the MotoGP bike. Malaysia is tough. The first day in Malaysia is always tricky: hot conditions. But we went through it quite well. The performance was good, really good in some parts of the day and less in some other parts. But it feels right to only bring the good things to the track tomorrow.”

Jack Miller – P22

“I Feel good on the bike, feel fit on the bike, well as you can be for not being on a MotoGP bikes for a couple of months. The package is good, has big potential, we are just working through getting comfortable on the bike and making my own. Was a busy day for me, and all my guys, changing parts, changing this and that, so a busy day for all.

“On last years bike we would have been faster, that is one way to look at it, but the potential of the new bike is greater, working with the developments we have as the Factory Team to get this bike working to our satisfaction. We are testing the GP22, and what we test and work on will get passed on.

“All very easy to get on the bike you know and have ridden in 19 Grand Prixs, like a new shoe, it feels strange at first, but eventually it will be my shoe.

“Next evolution of the bike, big thing to get your head around when you first get on it.

“Limited with the tyres, last year we topped pretty every much test there was, and we know how that all worked out.

“The GP21 we never rode here, the track is in pretty good condition, some of the bumps maybe have got a little bit bigger, but it should get faster the more rubber goes down, so it feels a bit fresh, been a while since it had a lot Michelin rubber put down on it.”

Andrea Dovizioso – P23

“Today has been a very strange day. Everybody is stressed, because we have only two days here in Malaysia, so everyone is doing a lot of laps. We did the same and started with a good feeling this morning. We tried a lot of things, but unfortunately, it wasn’t really clear which direction to take and I couldn’t improve my feeling. I don’t think today is the day to understand the real situation of everybody. I don’t know how much the soft tyre can improve things, because I didn’t try and we don’t have enough tyres here to do all the comparisons of material we want, so it’s pretty tricky to program the two days. But anyway, tomorrow we have to confirm something and try to be a bit faster.”

Remy Gardner – P24

“Today has been a good day and we did a lot of laps. We struggled a little bit more compared to the three previous days of Shakedown because we tested some different parts and things compared to the settings used earlier this week. However, we have a clear direction of what we need to do so I am happy with that. Tomorrow, we will continue the work and push a bit more.”

Darryn Binder – P25

“Today we finished the first day of the official test here in Sepang. We worked hard today, I was working in a lot of different areas and tried some different things compared to the shakedown test. The end result was very similar to the final day of the shakedown test, which I wish I could have improved a lot more. I felt like we worked quite a lot during the day and I thought this is really going to reflect at the end of the day, but anyway, this is testing. I felt a little bit faster step by step, especially with the used tyres. We will try again tomorrow and see what happens. We’ll just keep on working, keep on trying to learn and slowly but surely understand how everything works and see in which direction to go.”

Sylvain Guintoli – P26

“I’ve been here in Sepang for a few days longer than Alex and Joan because we had the three-day shakedown test. This allowed me to test a lot of the items already; the new engine, the aero packages, the new rear ride height adjuster. So there was a lot going on during the shakedown. Today I turned my attention to the electronics side, and I tried some new evolution items there; I also tried some new front suspension options. I’m happy because we completed the programme for today, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Sepang Test Times Day One

Sepang Test Day One Top Speed

The previous benchmarks

For comparison, Fabio Quartararo holds the qualifying lap record at Sepang with a 1m58.303. The top speed record is held by Andrea Iannone at 339.6 km/h. Valentino Rossi holds the race lap record at 1m59.661. Outside of a race weekend, Danilo Petrucci set the outright benchmark at 1m58.239 during testing here in 2019 when it was a Ducati 1-2-3-4, will we see that time bettered here this coming weekend, and will Ducati dominate once again…?

2022 MotoGP Entry List

2022 Provisional MotoGP Calendar

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